Xiaomi has an interesting history that I recommend you read up on if you don’t already know it. The company, while known to mostly enthusiasts here in the States, has a huge presence in its homeland China, as well as India and other parts of Southeast Asia. Despite a general decline in size and influence in the past year or two, Xiaomi continues to push the envelope of affordable, feature-packed phones. The Mi line represents the best that the manufacturer has to offer. For 2017, Xiaomi has created the Mi 6, a small phone full of the latest and greatest specs.

As you will see below, the Mi 6 looks like a powerhouse on paper. Unfortunately, the stale, old MIUI 8 software really hamstrings the phone. Not only does it hold the Mi 6 back from being a stellar device, but it doesn’t fit with the phone's overall design and aesthetic. It feels completely outdated.

The Good

With a massive cell and the MIUI optimizations, the Mi 6 is an absolute champ in terms of battery life.

Camera

Xiaomi did a pretty good job with the camera for the Mi 6. Coming from the Mi Note 2, the previous flagship, there was a lot of improvement that I saw here.

Ergonomics

The Mi 6 is just plain comfortable to hold. It’s heavy and dense, but it fits nicely in my hands. And despite it being a glossy, fingerprint magnet, I found that I was able to grip it quite well.

The Not So Good

Software

MIUI 8 is boring, stale, and in desperate need of a refresh at this point. Despite being updated to a Nougat base (versus Marshmallow on the Mi Note 2), it feels behind — even when compared to what LG and Samsung are doing with their software. It's also missing some Nougat features like bundled notifications and multi-window.

Headphone jack

I will continue to rail on phones that drop this. In my time with the phone, I came across several instances where I needed the 3.5mm port and didn’t have the USB-C adapter. Leaving this off of the phone was a stupid decision.

Bluetooth

The Bluetooth performance of the Mi 6 is absolutely awful. Smartwatches repeatedly disconnect (Wear and Gear S3) and headsets/speakers won't pair or lose connection during playback.

Fingerprint sensor

I have two issues with the fingerprint sensor on the Mi 6. The first is that it is not as accurate as others – it actually refused to read my thumbs initially, likely due to my callouses. The second is that it is set so deep into the front face of the phone that it's difficult to align my thumbs properly. I chose not to use it.

Capactive keys

Even Samsung has done away with these. It's time for Xiaomi and its ilk to do the same.

Design

I have to give credit where credit is due: the Mi 6 is quite the looker from the back. It is, by far, Xiaomi's nicest-looking device yet with its compact body, subtle curves, and smooth finish. And in keeping with the Mi tradition, Xiaomi left the 6 small this year. Thanks to the way the back glass melds into the stainless steel frame, it’s a super comfortable phone to hold and use. The glossy, reflective back certainly attracts fingerprints and gets nasty pretty quick, though. The Mi 6 can also be a bit slippery at times — it likes to slide off desks, tables, or any other perfectly flat surface.

I received the plain black unit to review, which reminds me of both LG's dark finish on the G6 and Apple's Jet Black color on the more recent iPhones. All of that to say, it looks nice until you touch it. The front of the phone is a plain black face, with only the fingerprint sensor and capacitive keys (when lit up) underneath the 5.15" screen to break it up; you can barely see the front camera, earpiece, and sensors at the top in most circumstances. Along the back, you'll find the dual camera module, flash, and the Xiaomi logo (and pertinent information) near the bottom. Over on the right side of the shiny frame is the volume rocker, which sits right above the power button — a configuration that I've never been fond of. Neither of those feels good, with the rocker feeling sticky and the power button like there isn't enough travel distance to even click (they're also hard to see). On the other end is naught but the SIM tray. Lastly, the USB-C port and speaker sit along the bottom.

In that mini tour of the Mi 6, you will likely have noticed that I failed to mention the location of the 3.5mm headphone jack. Well, Xiaomi decided that it would be best to leave that off of this year's Mi phone. The reason is anyone's guess, though I have my own (inconclusive) hypothesis which I will not share here. Regardless, this is the first decision made here that is a real downer. In my time with the Mi 6, I can recall multiple instances when I wanted to use a 3.5mm cable, but I did not have the included USB-C adapter. Whether or not you agree that it's time for the venerable audio port to be put to rest, a lot of the world is not ready yet. Bluetooth devices/connections are not as readily available or reliable as one might wish.

My final major gripe with the Mi 6 externally is the fingerprint sensor. It's not as quick as something from Google, Huawei, or OnePlus, nor is it nearly as accurate. To put this into perspective, the phone would decline to accept either of my thumbprints at setup. It took a long time to get even one of my thumbs registered. Now, I realize that my hands and fingers are riddled with callouses and scars, which tend to throw off some sensors, but I've never had this much of an issue before. Also, Xiaomi elected to recess the fingerprint reader deep into the bottom bezel, which made setup and actual use of it even more difficult (I have thick fingers). In the end, I told the fingerprint sensor to sod off.

Display

Xiaomi has not made its name with great displays; the last time the company was praised for something screen-related was the Mi Mix. So when I approached the Mi 6 and my notes for writing this section, I did not expect anything wonderful. The best that I can say of the 5.15" 1080p IPS LCD display is that it's adequate. There's nothing to truly complain about, per se, but there is certainly nothing to commend or praise. The Mi 6's screen gets the job done.

I am not bugged by the choice to go with an FHD resolution. At 5.15" diagonally, the pixels are smashed together making for a nice density (428 ppi). The rest of the screen itself is mediocre; it doesn't get as bright as I would like outdoors nor quite dim enough for nighttime use (a problem I have with a lot of LCD displays, even the one on the G6). The colors have a washed out look to them most of the time and the default calibration leans more toward the warmer side, so blues especially suffer. Thus far, the options you're given in the settings do very little to address these issues. I mean, moving the slider toward Cool in the settings helps with some of the blues looking awful.

However, the viewing angles are excellent on the Mi 6, which I would expect for a flagship in 2017. At no point did I see light bleed or any gaps. It's only when your gaze is just barely shy of perfectly parallel do you start seeing some weirdness, and if you're using this phone like that, you have other problems to address. MIUI also comes with an automatic blue light filter for nighttime, if that's your thing (it's one of mine).

Overall, I don't hate the Mi 6's display, but nor do I love it. Like I said, it gets the job done. I am not saying that a phone this size needs a higher resolution — it's plenty crisp as it is — but I think that the backlight is lacking and needs work. The outdoor performance was also pretty pathetic (versus some other phones I've used recently which were plenty usable in the sun).

Audio

Audio performance on the Mi 6 was what I expected. The bottom-firing speaker gets pretty loud with the expected distortion at high volume. Bass is completely lacking — again, as expected. Bluetooth 5.0 makes an appearance in this phone, but I don't have any accessories that could take advantage of the higher bandwidth. Sorry.

Since the phone lacks a 3.5mm jack, I had to use the included USB-C adapter to test sound with wired headphones. I did not come away disappointed (like I have with previous phones). The audio performance on the Mi 6 is good. It will definitely do you well should you choose to use it as your gym media player or whatnot.

Performance and battery life

The Mi 6 is no slouch when it comes to raw performance. The Snapdragon 835 is a powerful SoC, especially when put to proper use. However, in this case, the benchmark numbers are quite impressive, but the overall user experience has felt restrained during my time with the Mi 6. I'll explain what I mean.

Xiaomi, among other Chinese OEMs, is notorious for implementing hyper-aggressive RAM management in its software. So even though there's 6GB in this phone, the OS barely uses 3GB before it starts dumping apps from memory — including third-party launchers like Nova and Action. Even after disabling a lot of the "MIUI optimizations," more than half of the RAM is neglected. There are myriad of problems with MIUI, which I will discuss in its own section below, but this one in particular affects performance. This is what I meant when I said the UX feels restrained — there's a lot of latent power to be had here, but Xiaomi has opted to shackle it. For comparison, I've experienced much more consistent and sometimes better performance on the LG G6 that I'm currently using. Perhaps some patch down the line, or maybe even MIUI 9, will improve the RAM management and the overall feeling of being held back.

But when it's behaving itself, the Mi 6 is blazing fast. Like the OnePlus 5, it lacks the buttery smoothness of the Pixel, but it makes up for that with sheer speed. There is hardly any lag or stutter and animations are very fluid. The Adreno 540 GPU is stellar for gaming, especially at 1080p, and withstood anything I threw at it.

One of Xiaomi's long-time strengths has been battery life. Every Mi phone that I've used in recent years has been a champ when it comes to longevity. With my normal usage, I was able to squeeze about two days out of the Mi 6 with approximately eight hours of screen-on-time (at 50-60% brightness indoors). While its 3,350mAh cell certainly helps, it is well understood that the MIUI tomfoolery aids battery life significantly.

Camera

Hopping on board the dual-camera bandwagon, Xiaomi is really pushing the optics setup on the Mi 6 this year. We have two 12MP sensors here; one is wide-angle and the other is a 'telephoto' lens, allowing you to get a bit closer to your subject. Both of these fit smoothly into the svelte Mi 6 body (i.e. there's no camera bump).

In well-lit conditions, especially outdoors, the Mi 6 takes good pictures. Color reproduction is accurate, the white balance is pretty good in auto mode, and none of my shots came out with exposure issues. Most of Xiaomi's cameras in the last year or two have done well with proper light... as any good camera should. Low-light performance is also decent on the rear cameras — the front one is a different story.

The actual camera UI is fairly simple. Initially, you're presented with the viewfinder and the flash settings, Portrait Mode, and HDR toggle up top (or left). Along the bottom is the shutter button, the camera selector, filters, shooting modes, photographing/recording toggle, camera switcher, and gallery viewer. In order to access the settings, you need to go into the mode selector and tap the gear icon up top. It took me a little while to find it, which was irritating. In that menu, you will find a whole bunch of things to mess with. I recommend disabling the watermark, otherwise you will see "Shot on Mi 6 dual camera" in your photos (you can see some below).

My impression of the Mi 6's camera is that it's a solid shooter. The average consumer will be very pleased with the outdoor performance (if they can see the damn screen) and even grabbing a quick photo at night will likely go better than previous Mi phones. Is it the be-all-end-all of cameras? No, but it sure does a good job, especially in this price bracket.

Software

While the hardware and performance of the Mi 6 are both decently positive, the software is another story. If you will recall, when I reviewed the Mi Note 2 in February, I was not hard on MIUI 8. While the Marshmallow base was not ideal on that phone, the software experience didn't seem too negative. And in comparison to other companies' "skins," MIUI still isn't all that bad. But unlike the black sheep of the past, like TouchWiz and EMUI, MIUI has not changed. At all.

On the Mi 6, the Android version underneath has been updated to Nougat 7.1.1, which is about the best I can say. The notification problems, Bluetooth connectivity reliability (rather, the lack thereof), and power-saving measures are still here and ugly as ever (they showed up on the Mi Note 2 shortly after that review was published). They interfere with usability, sometimes severely, and create far more problems then they "solve." I find that many of the decisions are just stupid, such as not allowing apps to be exempted from the power-saving stuff (e.g. Android Wear, Pushbullet, Tasker); even if you tell the OS to ignore those apps for battery optimization, you will find them back in the "Not Optimized" list after clearing the settings from the recents menu or rebooting.

Like with the Mi Note 2, my Mi 6 review unit defaults to the MIUI 8 global beta weekly builds. While updates do not, in fact, happen every week, they are still frequent enough — and most of the changelogs simply state "Fixed some bugs." Android version bumps are usually slow-coming from Xiaomi, but monthly security patches and such are frequent.

Software design has become very important in recent years. It makes sense, really; who wants to look at an ugly interface several times a day? It's a huge bummer, but MIUI looks and feels quite stale and bland at this point. Even Huawei's EMUI looks fresher and cleaner than ever, but MIUI appears the same now as it did a year ago.

Using the Mi 6 is boring, mostly due to the unoriginal, uninspired software design. This feeling of outdatedness persists through every level of MIUI.

All of the customization options are still here, obviously. One of my favorite little touches is the weather in the notification shade. It's simple and rather unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but it's the little stuff that counts. The header color also changes depending on the time of day and conditions. You can also choose the order of the capacitive keys, whether you want the normal or Samsung (wrong) way. Other staples like Second Space (which allows you to create a second instance of an app for login purposes), App Lock, and the "battery issues analysis" are all present. And yes, the stock launcher still lacks an app drawer.

Notifications remain a sticking point for MIUI. They don't work well at all. Even though it's now based on Nougat, the software won't let you expand notifications in the shade or on the lockscreen, the app icons for each notification continue to clutter the status bar, and Nougat's bundled notification magic is very obviously missing. In short, this part of MIUI is a mess just like it was a several months ago (and when it was based on Marshmallow). Oftentimes, notifications won't even come through because of the atrocious battery saving measures — such times require you to go into the app you want (like Gmail, Slack, etc.), which finally triggers the missing notifications. When you rely on the relative reliability of new emails pushing through when they arrive, this behavior is very unacceptable.

Bluetooth is another spot where MIUI drops the ball. Both of my Android Wear devices and my Gear S3 Classic repeatedly disconnected; each of my Bluetooth headsets and speakers would either fail to pair or drop connection during playback. The latter makes the lack of a 3.5mm jack all the more painful (especially since I never remembered to bring the stupid adapter with me everywhere I went). I don't know whether this is an issue with the implementation of Bluetooth 5.0 with the Mi 6 hardware-wise or something in the way MIUI is handling the standard. What I do know is that it's very, very annoying.

Beyond these specific issues, MIUI is just plain, bland, and outdated — something with which Jeff agreed in his Mi Pad 3 review. And the fact that it's missing some of Nougat's features like bundled notifications and multi-window is utterly sad. Come on, Xiaomi.

Value

Now we come to the crux of Xiaomi's true strength: the value proposition. Starting at roughly $360 USD (for the 64GB/6GB model), the Mi 6 presents an outstanding bang-for-your-buck scenario on paper. Just go back and look at the spec sheet; now think about what you're getting for $360. It's ridiculous and makes even the OnePlus 5 look overpriced comparatively.

But that's at first glance and price is not wholly indicative of the entire story. You just got done reading me ranting about the stale MIUI 8 and the issues I experienced. The fingerprint sensor is not the best and the 3.5mm jack is missing. There are plenty of issues with the Mi 6, but that then begs the question of whether we should expect such cut corners considering the MSRP. Would it have been better to save money on some of the overkill internal components to improve the other lacking areas? It's certainly a conundrum.

However, with TWRP available for the Mi 6 and the inevitable flood of custom ROMs coming (hopefully), I daresay that this phone is one of the best values on the market — you know, other than not being able to buy it with a warranty most places in the world.

Conclusion

Software is the biggest problem with the Mi 6. MIUI is a bore and the biggest contributor to the feeling of blandness that surrounds the phone. But what if it could be replaced, thanks to custom recovery/ROM support? It's a question worth considering. Then you, as a prospective buyer, will only have to tangle with the hardware faults.

Admittedly, most people don't have the same trouble with fingerprint sensors that I do (especially front-mounted ones). The lack of a 3.5mm jack is something that I will continue to criticize until we get to a point where it can be put to rest — Xiaomi should not have left it off of the Mi 6 (the official reason is that it was to make more room for the battery).

I want to like this phone, but I don't. It's more focused on the spec race than actual UX. But unlike OnePlus, Xiaomi continues to fall flat on its face when it comes to software. Yes, it's impressive to stuff a Snapdragon 835, 6GB of RAM, up to 128GB of storage, two 12MP cameras, and a 3,350mAh battery into a phone with a 5.15" screen. Impressive technical accomplishments, however, do not make a great phone. User experience is a crucial element that doesn't show up in spec sheets or in marketing materials, and yet it's often a problem area for many OEMs.

Even though the Mi 6 will likely have some good aftermarket support, I find it inappropriate to recommend a device with the caveat that you will likely need a custom ROM to resolve some or all of the software issues. That shouldn't be the case; we aren't in the early days of Android anymore where such a warning was usually a given. Frankly, MIUI needs a serious rethink - it's time for an overhaul.

My guess for the BT issues would be that it's a brand new revision and that part (firmware, software stack within Android, etc.) is not optimized for that very chipset. Samsung made it work, but honestly, Xiaomi is often VERY messy with their software.

Karan Shah

did you continue to face the issue after that?

xiaomi software sucks, but the hardware is great. I am on LOS at the moment myself.

If that's what it takes to fix a seemingly huge flaw, I think Xiaomi should stop putting the tag as 'optimisation'. If it closes several apps, I'm okay with it, but if it is as the author described and it simply broke things, it's not optimisation - it's called making a half-baked product.

Aalok

HIT LIKE IF YOU THINK XIAOMI SHOULD ALSO GIVE 'STOCK ANDROID' ROM OPTION FOR THEIR DEVICES.

Suicide_Note

One, there is no 'Like' button here, and two, Xiaomi isn't going to see anything that goes on here, so why bother posting something like that?

Mauricio Andres Najera Osorio

in fact, you could navigate through MI forums and find plenty of AOSP and LOS roms for MI devices...

fonix232

Which are not official, and thus usually suffer from various problems (battery optimization, camera stuff, et cetera).

RM199724

Or release kernel immediately so we can install Lineage. I understand it will cost more due to loss of income, but we will pay for unlock though Xiaomi portal.

Throwing on a third-party launcher does not fix the problems... especially when the stupid "optimizations" dump said launcher from memory.

The problems are underlying.

sai kiran

Learnt the lesson hard way(Ex Leco Le2 owner)

Arthur

Not sure when the big Chinese OEMs, primarily Huawei and Xiaomi are going to learn that making great hardware is only half of what's needed from a great phone. It's been years now that they put out above average hardware, in some cases rivaling Samsung, LG and Sony but they load it up with a junk skin and a lot of bloatware and aggressive memory management that completely ruins what admiration you have for the hardware and the whole experience.

Even Samsung and LG, as bad as they once were have come around a bit the past few device cycles to Google's version of Android with skins that are nowhere near as heavy as they once were.

Anon

Software takes time and experience to build up. The Chinese have done a phenomenal job considering just a few years back, the entire industry in China was non existent. Never before have we seen a developing country producing products of such high quality in such a short time.

Arthur

I commend them for the progress they've made in the small time in the market compared to their competitors but they are not small companies anymore and have vast manpower and resources to pull off pretty much anything they see as priority. Obviously mainland China and Asia are still their biggest markets and the phones are designed with software that has long suited that market. Huawei at least with more recent efforts has shown some progress with EMUI getting a bit closer to vanilla Nougat in the Mate 9 for instance that was heavily marketed in the US but Xiaomi hasn't seen the light yet. I just hope it isn't long before they do if they want any real chance of offering Samsung and LG any competition at the flagship level in the US market.

Anon

Huawei has its gigantic networking and telecommunications business to finance its mobile division. Huawei spends more on R&D than Apple. Xiaomi has admitted that it expanded too rapidly. They simply do not have the resources of the big boys like Huawei, Apple, Samsung and LG. Expand too quickly and they may end up like LeEco. Xiaomi is now focusing on a few key markets in APAC and India. For now, Huawei is the only Chinese smartphone company that's acting like a true MNC, opening offices and R&D centers all over the world to study and cater to the local markets.

krazyfrog

Pretty much this. Hardware is commodity and not that hard to produce, especially when most of these phones aren't even coming up with their own design and the internals are basically the same as that on a Samsung or HTC. It's the software where you need skilled designers and developers, something these Chinese brands just can't seem to copy.

Anon

Actually it is pretty damn hard to produce hardware on this scale and quality. Many other developing countries like India and Brazil have failed to do so despite trying for a long time. It's just that China succeeded because they have build up their industrial base and supply chain decades ago with proper planning. Yeah this is decades in the making. Now they can produce world class hardware with ease for the right price. There wasn't a need to provide services like software in China simply because there wasn't a domestic middle class that demanded it. They churned out manufactured goods for the world and the domestic market. Software was largely(almost completely) done outside China. The middle class now exists in China and the economy is shifting towards services. So right now, their programmers are quite inexperienced. China learns fast though. I suspect they will reach parity with the US in 5 to 7 years for the general stuff. 10 years for the cutting edge stuff.

Suicide_Note

Forget the phone. I want to read more about how and why the author's hands and fingers are so scarred and calloused.

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I am really glad that you guys took xioami to task on their software mess. And it's also a proof to me that you guys actually do in depth reviews.
I have seen reviews of Xioami devices from major publications. One reviewer had reviewed the phone without a single third party app installed, except benchmarking app. Most reviewers skip right through the software section. They describe a few features like dual apps and automated tasks etc and that's that. I'm left thinking, how can these guys not be irritated by the weird notification system?

Miui is pathetic. Whether it's on 6.0 or 5.1.1 or 7.1, it works the same. And for this to happen, features of newer android versions are sacrificed. There is literally no noticeable difference between miui 8 based on 7.1 and miui 8 based on 6.0. And these two are also exactly similar to miui 8 based on 5.1.1 with the only difference being that 5.1.1 doesnt support Google assistant. Except that, the whole OS feels and works exactly the same on every android version from 5.1 to 7.1. I love Xiaomi hardware and the first thing i do after buying their phone is flash a new rom.

But you are completely correct. And I'm glad that you appreciated the thoroughness we shoot for here at AP. :)

Gregory

I'm a developer, and I hate MIUI to no end because of its "optimizations". Look, I'm not Facebook, I do actually know how to show notifications without a battery-draining 24/7 background service, so could you please leave my apps alone.

Also, its notification system was utter shit last time I've seen it.

The problem with these phones is that they're extremely cheap where I live and they're becoming increasingly popular.

My name is….

Miui is far better than vanilla software, it only needs a few optimizations.

Battery life is so so so so much better on Miui compared to lame stock Android that has battery drains 50% of the time

D13H4RD2L1V3

Yeah, not entirely.

Doesn't need to be stock but fix all the bugs please....

Captain_Invisible

The battery life sounds great and all, but if you can't use the phone like you want, does it really matter?

While I recognize your hyperbole at the end there, I have to question your first statement: "Miui is far better than vanilla software, it only needs a few optimizations."

What is your evidence? Where is your argument? The burden of proof is on you for making this statement.

My name is….

My main argument is there, Battery life sucks big time on vanilla. "Doze" and "advanced doze" suck big time.

Miui doesn't have those issues. You can block what you want. Also is much much more beautiful and has many useful features baked.

And one final thing, i don't really have the burden of proof, you act like "vanilla software" is generally accepted as the best software.

On one hand, I see the sales of the nexuses, the pixels and all "vanilla" phones and on the other hands I see sales of all the other phones (miui, emui, TouchWiz, etc)

The burden is on you my friend. :)

Rohan

Hey, if you want to mess around with how Android works, I don't care. It's your devices after all! But it becomes my problem when you complain apps not working properly and leave 1 star reviews when my app was killed and it's notification cleared and I couldn't remind you of the activity. It's my problem when you replace a working permission system with your crappy one and then complain about all crash. It's my problem when you throttle my app in every way possible and then complain about app working like shit. It becomes my problem when you MIUI users leave 1-star reviews about stuff that you brought on yourself and I can't help.

Look, Its not like I didn't even try. I used the Mi3 and Mi4, note ,redmi note 4G, 1S, 3 myself and tried to optimize for it but when you change stuff every fucking month then it's just not worth my time. Also as a user, I want to just use my phone and expect it to do all the management by itself. Android has a pretty good balance of that and battery life for most users. And they stick to it. On my current phone, I don't even think about stuff like what app is eating my battery life and which app to throttle. It doesn't even have that levels of granular control. But it works and I don't care. For what it's worth, I rather even have Samsung software over Chinese crap because atleast it doesn't mess with underlyings of android that much.

Charbel Aoun

Because of MIUI 8, but when MIUI 9 comes out you will benefit from all nougat features including picture-in-picture

Bashing every phone that doesn't have vanilla-ish software is not "in depth review"

D13H4RD2L1V3

It's not because it's not vanilla.

It's because stuff doesn't work the way it's supposed to.

I'm not lying if I said I would rather have EMUI over MIUI, because I honestly would. I've played with a Mate 9 and I honestly liked the skin a lot. It's much more cohesive and functional than MIUI and there's legit stuff in there that makes me enjoy using it more than my vanilla Moto Z.

The point of a skin is to add functionality and deliver a unique experience compared to a vanilla skin. While MIUI certainly delivers on the latter in comparison to stock Android, stuff like random Bluetooth disconnects have to be addressed.

Herein lies the problem. MIUI removes core Android features, institutes very aggressive RAM management, breaks notifications, and offers very little in compensation for such things. Battery life, obviously, is one of those compensations.

Initially, MIUI seems fine. Yeah, I was really disappointed to see v8 when I booted the Mi 6, but whatever. It's when it gets down into the grind of being a daily driver that most problems appear. Though, from the get-go, I had the major issues with Bluetooth and the fingerprint sensor. But Pushbullet and other background apps worked fine for a few days, before I suddenly stopped getting notifications from anything. Tasker was repeatedly closing, I wasn't getting Inbox notifications, Telegram was at a standstill. That's not, in any way, okay.

Speed Pro

Thanks for the explanation, i guess ill hold off till i use 1 for longer, looking forward for your MIUI 9 review.
reg the FP scanner though, i think we can safely chalk it down to your personal use case issue.
or i wonder if it is because it is an underglass FP scanne, dunno if its the first but this may be why samsung and apple are having issues placing it under screens.

Rohan

This. I don't like how it messes with stuff. And the ram issue goes deeper than just rom level. Atleast it did when i used Mi3 and Mi4. Even custom roms had issue dealing with it. I used CM and other roms for long time and even on them the apps would close. And as far as battery life is concerned, it is amazing for first few months and then it goes to shit. Even reset doesn't help much because how it handles battery profiling. You have to live with it.

Bashing would look more like "MIUI sucks and I hate it. Stock for life."

You'll notice that I gave reasons for MIUI being bad. That's called constructive criticism and takes a lot of thought and effort to do.

Therefore, your comment doesn't make any sense since I did not, in fact, "bash every phone that doesn't have vanilla-ish software."

Timothy Vreeland

So it wouldn't be bashing to call it boring 2 times, and then call it a bore for a third hit? That is straight up opinion based bashing. This article needs an edit for professionalism. Not your fault, bias will come out in everyone without really realizing it, but it should be edited.

Its a mayday for those you've got used to stock android to use MIUI. For majority of population who didn't this will be a treat due to best hardware. Hope LOS or 3rd ROMs becomes alter options..

Rohan

And it won't see a major Android release update probably.

Vikas

MIUI 8 is a big joke on Android. Even after turning on USB debugging it don't allow developers to automatically install apps on their phone. Every-time asks permission for new install.

R.S.Laurent

Xiaomi had my attention up until they pissed me off by saying Android N would never come to the Redmi Note 3, i own one and it's a wonderful device, but the MOMENT the Nokia 9 comes out, it's GONE.....................
I'm a hardened Android Army vet, but the ONE THING we can't seem to get RIGHT is updating ALL devices capable of receiving and utilizing the software AT THE SAME TIME, the way iOs does................
We get THAT right, and Apple will lose what little market share they have left

JL

After having nexus 5 and 5X and then a mi5s and mi6, i don´t understand why do you say that MIUI 8 is boring. Stock android is which is boring.

I had worse experience with nexus phones with bugs, bootloops, dead pixels, etc.

MIUI 9 is around the corner, let´s see. Improvements are welcomed.

D13H4RD2L1V3

Because MIUI hasn't really changed much in years, if at all.

And it breaks some core stuff as well, unfortunately.

Grojnak

MIUI is an iOS copy, and iOS didn't change in years, so...

shadowx360

Can't be more wrong. iOS in the last few versions has added an exclusive messaging system that is the main reason most users won't go to Android, true multitasking, file management, keyboards, health. In many ways you can say iOS was catching up to Android but you can say the same about Android: permission toggles, a million attempts to replicate iMessage, better access to updates, more restrictions to save battery. Both have changed to be more like the other.

Have you used a device since Lollipop? I mean, the whole point of Material Design was to step away from Holo.

D13H4RD2L1V3

More like since Lollipop.

Although Nougat did bring some significant changes.

Zeek

And, there were pretty significant changes in terms of design when it comes to Nougat from Marshmallow. It may not be apparent at first, but Google did a "mostly same, but vastly different" approach here.

Speed Pro

i Second this completely... you can do so much on a mi device without the need for extra apps that you cant on a stock nexus. and i believe sompe ppl prefer to have the most battery with aggresive ram management.

MIUI is boring and outdated. Whether you agree or not is up to you. Yes, Nexus devices have had their issues in the past, but nowhere in this review did I say that Nexus/Pixel was superior. Bringing those into your argument is a flawed tactic.

I hope that MIUI 9 does bring some improvements. Any are sorely needed.

Armando J Leon

I might be part of the minority here but a Google-Xiaomi relationship for future Pixel phones might bring the best of both worlds? (Affordable hardware and great vanilla software). One of the few things getting in the way of that ever happening is probably the lack of proper tech support in the US from Xiaomi (and maybe some patents Xiaomi does not have for the US market--even though they could make use of the partnership with Nokia they just publicized earlier Today?)

KenanSadhu

Who wouldn't love some really good sub $500 Pixels!

D13H4RD2L1V3

I don't mind skins, but only if they don't break core stuff.

This is what pisses me off on my backup. You can't adjust different volume sources straight from the volume controls, you can't mute notifications for any of the pre-installed apps, you can't even disable any of the pre-installed apps and it even killed my navigation app while I was using it because it was "consuming too much power".

It doesn't run MIUI, but it runs a similar-style flavor of Android and this is what really annoys me about most Chinese skins. I don't mind the iOS-esque design. But please don't break or unnecessarily change stuff like that to the point where basic functionality is compromised.

EMUI is at least much more tolerable.

Dismissing

I disagree, Mi Mix looks much more stunning

Mktcrasher

At least the good thing I found with Xiaomi (I have Redmi Note 4 with SD625), was how easy it was to unlock bootloader and install custom recovery. Running Resurrection Remix Rom on Android 7.1.2, getting almost 10hrs screen on time, battery beast.

T-ReX

Oh i got around 14 hr screen on time sometimes.

AdamH

Xiaomi phones are getting extremly popular in Central Europe and they're not even very cheap in here beacause they're being sold unofficially. Last year nobody even heard about Xiaomi. This year, it's still holding no. 2 or 3 in sales.

Some of my friends went from Huawei, Lenovo, Samsung to Xiaomi and when I asked them what they like about it - 3 things: smooth performance, long battery life and MIUI. Yup, they just love how colorful and easy to use it is. You might say MIUI is lacking stuff and it's boring but apparently some of the people like it easy (I personally don't. Their notifications are terrible.)

Diego Salvador

I'm from Brazil, but I agree with your European friends. Those are also the 3 things I like on my Xiaomi phone. But I disagree when you say people like it easy. It's actually the opposite. I like it because you can toggle it much more than you can with stock Android or other skins.

AdamH

I agree, you are right. You get really good customization with MIUI and I'm not talking only about themes. You get stuff that stock Android (or maybe even any other OEM's skin) won't offer. But in the same time if you don't want to use any of these features you don't have to.

Anon

Good observation. I don't like MIUI as well but that seems to the general sentiment of people visiting sites like this. The general public doesn't and they usually love Xiaomi and MIUI.

For $40 you buy Xiaomi USB-C noise canceling headphones. I don't want 3.5mm, who cares about this? You also miss the lack of a cassette player?

Release the kernel and put Lineage on it. My Mi5 is a beast on Lineage!
Just a little patience.

Excalibur2453

Has Xiaomi started Elevate-esqe program similar to HTC? Good luck with your swag goodies!

Captain_Invisible

If most people were still using cassettes, of course we would miss the cassette player. And when this cassette player only takes up a few square millimeters, it really doesn't make sense to take it away now.

Ammar

What exactly was Hugo Barra doing at Xiaomi and how did he, after having worked at Google with stock Android, even found it morally sound to sell phones with such horrific software?

AdamH

Yeah, that's what I was saying lol

Stephen Brown

Good phones but miui just sucks. They really need to give up and go stock

Bailey

I really hope that they don't go stock it would be
totally boring if they do

limE777

Could you update this post when miui9 is released? Maybe even a review of the software on its own? This is rumoured to be happening soon.

I might do that or wait for the global flagship release later this year.

Random!

Review update with Miui 9 is nearly mandatory, since he made it clear that the software is the dealbreaker.

I'd also like to read a review about this phone running a custom ROM such as LOS. If the camera still works great and Bluetooth issues are resolved, then I'd be all over it. For that much hardware and that little price, it's seriously a steal.

I don't mind going the custom ROM route - in fact, I only use stock ROMs because of camera optimizations, and only while they're reasonably up to date.

limE777

An AP review of a custom ROM for this phone makes little sense to me Random! Code commits happen daily and it depends on how often the developer updates the code base which some developers do multiple times a week with each instance capable of introducing new bugs or regressions. While I think the phone should be judged on how open they make it available to developers, a review of a phone with code largely introduced by someone else shouldn't. XDA or miui forums would be more helpful.

While I might consider a "second-take" with MIUI 9, it is not in anyone's best interest to review a specific phone with a specific custom ROM on AP. Forums are the best places for that.

mrjayviper

dual camera without like a rip off. It can be done!

Diego Salvador

I don't mean to be a fanboy, but I REALLY don't get what's your problem with MIUI. I have a Redmi Note 3 Pro that I've been using for almost 1 year.
I have NO problems AT ALL with notification nor the bluetooth.
In my opinion, MIUI looks damn pretty. I was using Motorola phones with their stock Androids and I thought they were the way to go. When I tried MIUI I was amazed about how pretty it looks. I haven't tried TouchWiz since the days of Galaxy S4 (when it was kind bad) and I've heard it is much better now, but I can't compare. Anyway, I'm absolutely satisfied with MIUI right now.

1. MIUI hasn't changed in quite some time, despite everything else doing so. It looks old, outdated, bland, and like Xiaomi doesn't care about software design.
2. Certain things are omitted, like bundled notifications and multi-window. Xiaomi has been doing that for years with MIUI.
3. The optimizations are a nightmare. RAM performance is pathetic. Why put more than 3GB in the phone if the system is set to only use that much?

And the list could go on and on. I think it's best that we agree to disagree. I'll take EMUI over MIUI any day.

Speed Pro

i actually think the EMUI nothification system is bad..
so i have used it on the honor 8 and it wasnt on 5.1 but 1 major gripe i had was that the notifications wouldnt show on lock screen, i get that some people want it this way for security but i couldnt find an option for it to work like i wanted. not the case with miui
i am now on EUI and it too has annoying notification behaviour on the lockscreen, it does however group them at the bottom which is nice and easy to dismiss.

Well, I don't think stock Android has changed much since Jelly Bean, to be honest. And that doesn't bother me, as long as it still works and looks fine.
I agree with you on bundled notifications and multi-window. They should implement those features. But it isn't something I miss.
About RAM performance, my phone has 3GB and I never had any kind of problems with it. I'm not a specialist, but it works very well for me.

Your cons are in some way a non sense. Samsung removed bottom buttons only from their latest model in 2017 - S8, so its not a rule. Bottom buttons are Xiaomi domain for now. And people like this solution. Also FP reader is also very good and works always. I see no point not using the FP at all just because for you its too low. Get use to it just 5 minutes and you will be fine.

F4uzan

> "all just because for you its too low"
Maybe that's the point of a review like this? For the author, the positioning _may_ be a problem, but for you it's not. Isn't that the point of it?

Maybe, just I never heard someone complained on this button. Also this button has same depth as MI5s. I have all phones so I can compare.

F4uzan

Still, there's a valid reason why the author complained. So, I doubt that it's "nonsense", while the author could've looked it less subjectively, I much prefer the more personal comment the author decided to make.

The fingerprint sensor is pretty terrible compared to the other devices I have, including the Honor 6X. It failed to register my prints repeatedly until I finally managed some success, failed to recognize them once I got them recognized, and it's recessed too deep into the bezel. I don't have tiny fingers.

I respect your right to your opinion, but I very much disagree with you.

My name is….

Capacitive keys>>> software keys

(unless s8/s8+ bezels)

Random!

Why no mention on water resistance?
How fast is the UFS 2.1 on this phone?

Where can you get it for $360? Seriously, I found it at $467 on eBay, and at sale price for $425 on gearbest, and that's the best I've found so far.

Because author made price calculation from Chinese website (around 2449 RMB), from where its not possible to buy unless you're chinese resident...

Speed Pro

there is a video on youtube reg water resistance.. it is NOT water resistant just splash proof.
ufs2.1 is super fast
no idea about USB PD
you can get some1 in china to buy it for you for 360$ and bring it to you, or if the import rules are lax then they can ship it to you.

Random!

I was just commenting points which are sorely lacking from the review, in the hopes the author would see the comment.

I find it strange that there's no mention about splash resistance on the review. Btw, I saw that dunk video. When I saw the bubbles creeping up I was like "uh-oh".

Benchmarks are not very important because they can be cheated. The ONLY benchmark which actually tells something relevant about the phone is the storage speed. Yet, the reviewer did not deliver on it...

I've read there's 15w USB-PD in other websites. Being QC3 a mere 3 watts increase, I guess I'd rather buy a USB-C charger, should be more useful in the long run. Testing this should be very straightforward, just charge the phone fully using QC3, and then using any USB-PD source. The reviewer could have easily tested that.

I'm looking to buy one of these from China, but it seems I'll only get the price mentioned in the article if I venture into chinese-only auction websites...

DragoCubed

I love AP's reviews.

Moshe S

I recently needed a new phone and had a choice between the Mi 5S or low end Samsung, LG etc, I got the Mi 5S and quickly got rid of MIUI in favor of Lineage for exactly the many reasons mentioned. Battery is not as good but small sacrifice for on screen keys, a stock interface, better notifications... I use the fingerprint but even without calloused and scarred fingers it often takes multiple tries, thank goodness for smart unlock and pin/pattern unlock.
As far as the display I actually find it to be quite good even outdoors not as good as a Samsung AMOLED but still not bad at all. As for the power/volume buttons, I often press volume up instead of power...stupid design fire the guy who thought of that and don't do it again.

Patrick Mustard

My experience :
It's impossible for instance to listen to music for more than 10 minutes straight with Google play music running in the background. The music will stop because of the "battery enhancements".
Half of the apps, like Pushbullet, cannot push background notifications while notifications from bloatware (disk cleaner...) cannot be deactivated.
The light meter stops working from time to time, turning your screen far too dark or too light.
The UI is prehistoric and gets extremely sluggish after a few months use, the Android updates non-existent, the Bluetooth and fingerprint scanner erratic.

It ain't no mystery that Xiaomi's marketshare has fallen when you actually use the phone instead of just reading the specs.

I can't speak for other reviews, but the outdoor visibility is garbage. Had the same problem with the OnePlus 3. The Colorado sun, however, is brutal.

mELIANTE

As much as I respect AP, unfortunately you are the dissonant voice on this case and although I understand that was your experience, questioning results, especially your own, is a sign of maturity and intelligence.

Sorry, but in this case I don't believe you are right.

thecoolkid 😎

This whole "review" is BS

Bailey

Sunlight visibility is not garbage this is one point that i cant agree on. I was using mine in Thailand so nice bright sunshine i had no issues

sai kiran

This aggressive RAM management is present in all Chinese ROMs. It drives me nuts, when I miss notification from important apps. Even the behaviour in recent apps is different from stock android, like you cannot a foreground app from recent apps menu.

Railwayman

When you buy a Xiaomi, you have a choice: MIUI or something vanilla. I prefer the latter. Paying $500 or so more in order to get Grace UX (which I find downright terrible and it didn't help when I had to clean cache on such a device recently) because MIUI has its quirks is like recommending spending $240-800 on a USB cable "in order to get better sound" and then do the classic argumentation that "specifications and measurements doesn't matter, only UX matter".

If UX matter, then get rid of all heavily modified Android implementations (EMUI, Optimus UI/LG UI, Grace UX and MIUI) and aim for the pure/refined pure vanilla versions out there such as the Google, Motorola or Sony approach. Dressing up Android in order to make it "iOS" or fill it with "apps and features" followed by a defense that they are "added value" and make things "better" doesn't make any sense. Is three voice assistants (Bixby, Cortana, Google Assistant on some Samsung Galaxies) really three times better than just one?

The software shortcomings of MIUI is easy to fix by flashing the device (and spare the Argumentum ad Populum now about "ordinary people" because it means absolutely nothing here). It is harder to fix a Samsung since the Snapdragon versions are carrier branded with locked bootloaders while the Exynos ones suffer from the good old source/blob problem. There is also Knox 0x1 Warranty Void. Xiaomi has none of that.

Their major issue is slow source releases for some of their products and they should improve it.

Their overall package is still solid and a far better value than a Samsung with carrier pricing, Grace UX, locked bootloader and Knox 0x1 Warranty Void as a constant threat.

I would also say the UX on a Mi6 with a different ROM is surpassing any device with a heavily modified Android so when you pay $360 for this device - you get something that offer a lot of potential. When you pay $800-900 or something for a carrier branded Samsung you are pretty much stuck with what they say you should have. So you don't like Grace UX even if everyone raves about it? Tough luck since the bootloader is locked and even if it wasn't Knox 0x1 Warranty Void will whip your butt.:)

It is always amusing when the arguments for spending 2-3 times the money for something similar are:

1. You can't read specifications or base things on them (I know because we are appealing to emotions here and specifications are cold, hard facts so we can't stay in that domain - Samsung would loose big time here so let's forget about the whole thing and pretend that its raining Galaxies instead).
2. The UX is everything - i.e. paying 2-3 times for similar hardware is justified (forget that a simple flash would change the game plan, it must be out-of-the-box!)
3. Devices are to be judged "as-is" - especially when we are going to use 1 and 2 in this list to tell people to pay more and scoff at the competitors that charge less.
4. Don't look at price/performance ratio - it is too cold and unemotional. Look at the UX "out-of-the-box". If a gallon of milk comes in a "Limited Edition" wooden box with the regular plastic container inside, it is always worth to pay $15 because of UX....;)
5. Grace UX is such a fine UX because it comes with "everything" and everyone knows that "More is More" all the time. It is too complicated to install apps so it is perfectly OK (and a must, actually) to bash competitors for being "boring".
6. Samsung is sending us review samples and provide invitations to their events so it is absolutely impossible that a $360 Xiaomi could come here and... compete with a Galaxy S8. It is bad enough that it is the same CPU/GPU in it but we have to let this fact "slide" and try to tell people to get emotional and talk about UX - Samsung would be mighty upset otherwise (especially recommending people to look at other devices).
7. A Samsung Galaxy S series is always an excellent value because it is the finest artifact ever created. Everything is absolutely top-notch and the design not to mention software is just surpassing everything.
8. Even if a competitor would offer a Titanium body, highest quality sapphire glass, a 41 MP PV camera, 512 GB of storage and a Snapdragon 836 for $800, Galaxy S8 is still the best thing. If said competitor run Android with Material Design with just Google Assistant it will loose out... big.

I will be mighty surprised the day it happens that whatever device from a Samsung competitor will get a higher rating than the latest Galaxy S. If the day ever happens that a $360-500 device is rated higher than a $800-900 Galaxy S something will be both historical AND take the breath out of me. The world is now in the "Freudian phase" of "Galaxy fixation" so it is hard to see how a competitor can outperform anything from the hyped brand. The major issue is the missing "Samsung Galaxy" logo with its magical powers (especially as far as the blessing of Sony camera sensors are concerned).

My final recommendation are: Flash the Mi6 with a different ROM and do a review of it in that condition - compare with a Pixel then since Lineage OS (for example) is more in line with that series than Grace UX.

Rohan

Memory management problems run deeper than you think. Even with custom rom it doesn't get much better.

Also, this phone has bigger bezels compared to XZ lineup yet nobody will complain. It doesn't even have front facing stereo speakers

minkiu

Just wait for LineageOS, most likely the Bluetooth problem is due to the way too aggressive battery saving modifications MIUI has.